Slow Down, Gym Shoe!: The Last Few Days

Pufferfish and I have been very busy the last couple of days! We had some events with our playgroup. Yesterday, for instance, we went to the zoo! (Thanks to Shari from Two Times The Fun for tipping me off about the Museum Adventure Pass... I was able to "check out" a zoo pass from the library, so I just had to pay for parking!) Before I left the house to go, I remembered to run inside and grab my camera... but I didn't notice, until I got to the zoo, that the batteries were dead. So, no zoo pictures. You'll just have to take my word for it! But it was the perfect zoo day! It was not too chilly at all, just sunny and cool, there were no crowds, and the animals were totally active! We only stayed for a few hours. Pufferfish was happy as a clam!

Then today, we went to a pumpkin farm with the same playgroup! I do have pictures of that. Pufferfish is actually starting to get to know the other little kids in the group (most of whom are little girls between one and three years old) and she looks for them and says their names. She doesn't really play with them, though. She gets really clingy when there are new adults around. One of the moms has mentioned that Pufferfish and I should go to her house for a playdate with her daughter, who is about a month older than Pufferfish. I think that would be cool for Pufferfish to have a playdate with just one other kid and one other adult... maybe she'd feel more comfortable and not be so clingy and overwhelmed!
The other people at the playgroup probably think I have a disease or something because I am always hacking my lungs out. I've got another sinus infection. Last night my sinuses were so bad, my nose filled completely up and I couldn't breathe at all. When I tried to breathe, I gagged, and I had to run to the bathroom and puke! That happened about three times. My muscles have been so sore, too. Part of it may be from lugging Pufferfish around all day, although I doubt it... I carry her around so much, it doesn't make sense that it would suddenly start causing me pain! My back hurts a lot, too. Am I getting old, or what???

Part of it may be anxiety and lack of sleep... Lily (the puppy) has been refusing to get completely house trained, so now she's not allowed to sleep upstairs with me anymore and she's supposed to stay in the cage except for when she's eating or going to the bathroom. Since she yelps when she's in the cage all alone, Clover (the mama dog) has to go in the cage with her too. The dogs have a really calming effect on me and I always have a lot of trouble sleeping without animals... in fact there is probably only a handful of nights, in the past ten years, that I have not slept with a dog or cat in my bed! I do a lot of tossing and turning and mind-spinning without them there! I'm going to start working double time at housetraining Lily so maybe hopefully in a few weeks she can sleep with me again! Any tips on housetraining a five-month-old puppy who doesn't want to be housetrained? She is okay with peeing, but not with pooping. She will poop outside okay, but then, as soon as she comes in, she poops again inside! I think I may have figured out a trick... if I get up earlier in the morning, I can stay outside with them longer, and she will poop twice out there. She did this morning. In the mean time, I'm just gonna try Tylenol PM before bed, to help me with my muscle aches and my anxiety about the dogs!

Okay, enough about that... Do you want to see the pictures of the pumpkin farm?

While we were waiting for the others in our playgroup, Pufferfish saw a woman take a picture of her toddler in this spot. Once the mother and toddler were gone, Pufferfish turned to me and said, "I stand there and you take a picture of me!" So, here is the picture!

Here is another pose Pufferfish copied off of another little kid! She always looks so glum in her pictures!

Pufferfish in a pumpkin train!

Look at Pufferfish driving the tractor!

Pufferfish went on a pony ride! I was excited that she actually wanted to do it, since last year at about this time I tried to take her on a pony ride and she freaked out!

Another kid's mom took these pictures of me and Pufferfish on the pony ride!

Pufferfish went on a train ride! Can you see her on the left?

There was a little country store there, with a loft that had lots of Halloween stuff to buy. Pufferfish and I went up to explore the loft, and on our way down, we encountered this little cutie! Do you think we'll have bad luck now?

After the other kids and mamas went home, Pufferfish and I stayed and got an elephant ear to share! It was so good! Here is Pufferfish in front of the elephant sign!

It was a really awesome place... so awesome, I'm thinking of going back tomorrow! Little Bear and Rafael have an early release day from school tomorrow. They don't get off until 1:45, which means I won't even pick up Little Bear until nearly two, but we could still go out there for an hour or so!

Anyway, I love ya, I miss ya, bye! Don't forget to check out my giveaway!